Dog plus chicken owners chime in please

[Eggscaping]

Hi all. First comes a disclaimer: I know that each doggo is a different 'person' and behavior can't be predicted by breed. I also realize that training, age, and various other factors come into play. But I'd very much like to hear from folks who owned dogs plus chickens and can say "My dog RoverSpotLucyBingoCharlieWhatever was around our chickens a lot and never showed even the slightest inclination to chase or harm them, plus what breed they were - or if not known, what breed they resembled. It's not time for us to get our next dog yet, but I'm in the process of gathering information for when that time does come. Thanks!

 

[hysop]

My dog is a rescue and I had him for 4 years prior to having chickens. I was told he was half lab and half Rottweiler. He’s quite small for a dog that supposedly is a mix of those two. He’s like a medium size dog. I’ll post a pic. He’s an awesome watch dog. He saved our rooster from either an owl or night prey bird. But he did have to be informally trained not to mess with the chickens. Mostly a spank here and there or a stern “no or stop that”.

He is great with my chickens. He will purposely eat bananas and other random treats ONLY because they are meant for the chickens. He’ll snap at them but never bite or eat them. He will eat and/or break the necks of baby chicks and young guineas like 2 month old guineas. But now that my guineas are 6+ months old he won’t mess with them. I don’t know what it is about chicks/baby birds but he can’t be trusted unsupervised. But once the birds get to be practically adults he lets them be and they coexist nicely.

RIP Hammy. He’s no longer with us. But the rest of the animals present in that pic are alive and well.

 

[Tortoise]

My dog, which we had to put down a week ago do to cancer, was a Bull Terrier. She never chased or bothered any of my animals. Tortoises, bird, cat and lizards. She also never chased the wild rabbits. Don't let them chase anything living and start from the beginning and any dog can be trained to get along with family animal members. Not to say I would let them be together unsupervised but I wouldn't let a small child be with my animals unsupervised either

 

[hysop]

My dog will chase the chickens if they have a treat in their beaks. But other than that he’ll leave them be. He’s 6-7 years old. Not sure if age matters on how chill a dog is. He was 5 years old when I got my first flock of chickens. My dog is weird -I mean unique- he doesn’t bark ever. And if he does he sounds like a puppy. But he does get along with all our chickens. Even our meanie rooster won’t mess with my dog. Maybe because my dog has saved his butt many times.

I do want another dog someday but I am nervous as far as how they’ll be with my chickens. I’m wondering if my current dog will teach him/her the ropes of not messing with the chickens.

 

[hysop]

My dog is a strictly outside dog and he’s with the chickens all day. Unsupervised. So there’s that.

My dog eats rodents and a wild rabbit he once caught. So I know he’ll eat wild animals, but thankfully not my adult chickens.

sorry for my many posts

 

[casportpony]

Hi there, I've had three dogs that were good with all types of livestock, a Rottweiler, a Border Collie/Cattle Dog cross, and my current dog, a Cattle Dog.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I had an American Staffordshire that never once tried to harm my birds or other animals.
She was 3 when I got my first chickens.
She would help me move ducks and geese through deep snow from the pen (1/3rd of an acre) to the barn. The birds that stopped got a nose lift under their butts to get them moving again.
She was an amazing dog. I did no special training with her. She just did what she did by problem solving on her own.
The night she started moving ducks with me the kids had let her out not realizing I was having trouble moving them in 2' snow. She ran/plowed her way to us and I was seriously thinking I was about to see a massacre. Instead she started nosing their butts up above the snow all the way into the barn.
I will forever miss her smart mug.

 

[imnukensc]

Two dogs: one is half basset and half "something huge" and the other is a Heinz 57 whose mother was supposedly poodle, but I'm 99% certain that he is at least part terrier of some sort. Neither of them pay the chickens any mind. They never chase, bark, or harass them in any way. Neither does my cat.

 

[MGG]

We have a 3 year old English yellow lab (well actually two of them, the 3 year old and a new puppy) and the 3 yr. old has been around the chickens quite a bit. She is a hunting dog though and she's great at it. She is really trained, we trained her using Richard Wolters' book, water dog, and family dog. She knows a lot of commands though. The first time she met them for real, she was 5 months old and all we said was "leave it" and that was that. Not a problem since.

 

[Folly's place]

The Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, one German Shorthaired Pointer, and Dalmation that I raised from puppyhood were all fine with the chickens. Early training, 'leave it' enforced, and eager to please, all made it pretty easy.
Now I have terriers from rescue as adults, and they LOVE chicken, and would take out any that invaded their yard. One of these dogs got out and killed many of my chickens last spring!
It's a combination of factors that have happened here; I've gotten lazy, and am not intensely training as I used to do, and they were abused adults on arrival, terriers, and we now have excellent fencing, so I lack motivation. I do think that this current pair are not likely to be made to ever be safe around the chickens.
To generalize hugely, terriers and sled dogs would be the most difficult, bird dogs, some working breeds, and herding types, would all be easier. Starting with a puppy is definitely easier, and then it's the individual, and the effort you are willing to put into it.
Mary